Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

The Road (2009)

In an Earth devastated by nuclear war, a father and son travel to the coast to find respite from the seemingly never-ending horrors to which they are witness.

For post-apocalyptic science fiction, The Road is a far more character driven, ponderous affair than you would expect. It is essentially a story of survival under the most adverse conditions, as a father tries to hold onto his humanity while trying to protect his son and himself from starvation and the degenerate cannibals the majority of the rest of the human race has become. The acting is excellent, particularly from Mortensen – although he does seem to stipulate in his contract these days that he must be able to show his backside at least once during the running time of every film he appears in – and the desolate world that Hillcoat has created is totally believable.

Graphic, grimy and extremely bleak, The Road won’t be to every taste but it’s a very well made vision of the horrors that may be unleashed by the human race’s uncanny knack for self-destruction.